A Rose By Any Other Name
by poyntersally
Summary: John Gilbert has kidnapped Elena to lure the Salvatore brothers into his trap for once and for all; however, Damon isn't stupid.  Nobody seems to remember that.


**I've never written for VD before, but I have quickly become obsessed with this show. **

**Read, and review to tell me what you think! Maybe I'll make it into more than a oneshot…**

"Damon, you have to help me." Stefan's voice pleaded on the other side of the line. Damon took another swig of bourbon.

"Why would I want to do that little brother?"

"He has Elena." Damon's jaw turned slack. He figured that with Stefan's protection 24/7 Elena would be safe. It was the only reason he had given up trying to function anymore. She didn't want to be with him, so he could surrender into his world of alcohol and self-destruction. It was the only way he knew how to deal with pain.

"Weren't you supposed to ensure that didn't happen?" Damon asked Stefan. He didn't care if Stefan was angry. He didn't care if Stefan was already blaming himself for Elena's disappearance. He needed to feel more remorse. It was his fault. And although Damon had somehow managed to cure himself of his infatuation with Katherine, he could still remind Stefan of the pain his negligence caused. Damon took in a shaky breath. "I should have guessed that it would only take a matter of time until you lost Elena as well." Damon hung up the phone. For luck, he took another sip of bourbon. He ran out the door.

-x-x-x-

Damon hurried over to the tomb. When he arrived, he wasn't surprised to find Stefan engaged in a shouting match with John Gilbert. Elena was tied up, huddled by John's feet. Damon started over towards her. Suddenly, he felt pain in his right shoulder. He stopped, and turned towards John, who was holding one of the John Gilbert's old inventions. Damon looked down at his shoulder, and the wooden stake protruding from it.

Damon's head felt fuzzy. His vision went slightly blurry, and he felt behind him for support. He could hear Elena's panicked screams, and he knew Stefan had attacked John. Ignoring the pain, Damon crawled over to Elena. Now was the only time he had to save her.

Damon started untying Elena's legs, but she kept screaming. Once she got his attention, he reached up to untie the gag around her mouth. "Thank you." Damon had paused. "What are you doing? Untie me! Then you need to go help Stefan."

Damon continued untying her legs, and quickly moved to her hands. "Hurry, Damon. You need to help Stefan!" Damon nodded. He was too weak to speak right now, let alone help his brother fight. Once Elena was freed, she sat up. She motioned towards Damon's shoulder. "Here, let me help you with that." Damon shook his head. He grabbed her hands.

"It's fine. I've got it."

"No. You're in too much pain. I can help you. Just let me take it out."

Damon grabbed the stake embedded in his shoulder, and plunged it into Elena's heart. Tearing Elena's necklace from her neck, Damon told the dying vampire. "Really, Katherine, I've got it under control."

Stefan, distracted by his battle with John, was only watching Damon's rescue mission out of the corner of his eye. Thankfully, he managed to take all of John's stakes away. Once his weapons were gone, Elena's father was easy to corner and defeat. Stefan turned toward his brother just in time to see him kill his girlfriend. "NO!" Stefan ran toward the couple, furious at Damon. "How could you!" Stefan turned toward Elena, noticing the veins on her face, her fangs protruding. Stefan scrambled backwards. "Katherine!" Damon nodded. "How could I not have known?" Damon wondered the same thing. Damon had known it was Katherine since he stepped into the tomb. Now that Damon had given up on his old flame, there was no mistaking the bitch for Elena. "She was wearing vervain, though."

Damon was tired of his brother's inability to put two-and-two together. Katherine was weak, it was the only way John could have been able to kidnap her. Although Damon did not know why, he knew that Katherine had been posing as Elena, vervain and all.

"If John kidnapped Katherine, where is Elena?"

Damon stood up. Stefan had proven that he was an idiot. Even more of an idiot than Damon initially thought him to be. "I don't know. I'm not her boyfriend."

Damon was gone before Stefan could answer him, thinking about how many moments he had shared with his girlfriend recently, and wondering if any of them were true.

**What did you think? Tell me in a review, please!**


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